Tagphotography

The Urban Explorers of Instagram

humzadeas looking over the city

Adrian Chen writes:

There has long been a subculture of so-called “urban explorers” who have made a game of accessing off-limits places. But Deas and the other Instagrammers distinguish themselves from these mostly older, more cerebral trespassers. “They’ll go to the top of the bridge and touch it and be like, Wow, this architecture!,” Deas says, a little dismissively. Urban explorers take photos mainly to document that they’ve been there, while for Deas the image is the whole point. The outlaw Instagrammers have more in common with graffiti artists, another subculture of underground creatives who make their work in the cracks of the urban landscape. Many Instagrammers go by enigmatic handles that would look good scrawled on the side of a subway car, like Novess, Black_soap, Heavy Minds, and 13thwitness, aka Tim McGurr, an unofficial godfather of the scene. But the outlaw Instagrammers are better-positioned to thrive in post-Giuliani, post-Facebook New York than old-school graffiti writers: transgressive enough to be cool, but innocuous enough to amass a huge following without getting hunted down by the NYPD.

Full Story: New York Magazine: The Outlaw Instagrammers of New York City

In a follow-up, New York magazine reports that Deas has been arrested.

(Thanks Skry)

The Psychedelic Salt Mines of Russia

Psychedelic Russian salt mines

Russian psychedelic salt mine

Deep beneath the Russian industrial city of Yekaterinburg is what looks like an exquisitely painted temple from some magnificent forgotten civilization. But the psychedelic stripes of color that snake through these vast tunnels are actually an incredible naturally occurring phenomenon.

The miles of colorful passageways were once a salt mine deep underneath the Earth’s crust. The bold stripes that electrify the walls are made up of layers of a mineral called carnallite, which is used in plant fertilization and can appear in a rainbow of colors, aol.com reports.

More Pictures and Information: The Weather Channel: Psychedelic Salt Mines of Yekaterinburg, Russia, Captured by Photographer Mikhail Mishainik

Even more photos on Visual News

(Thanks Skry!)

In Memory of Steve Moore, Unearething by Alan Moore and Mitch Jenkins is Now Online for Free

unearthing-06

Alan Moore’s mentor Steve Moore (no blood relation) passed away this month. In his memory, photographer Mitch Jenkins has posted the entirety of his work on the Unearthing, a biography of Steve written by Moore.

Mitch Jenkins: Unearthing

More Masked Monkeys of Indonesia

Pertu-Saska-a-kind-of-you-1

A couple years ago I linke to a collection of photos of the deplorable living conditions of leashed begger-monkeys in Jakarta. Here’s another photo gallery on the monkeys, with an emphasis on how creepy they look, rather than how they are abused.

ufunk: The Disturbing World of Street Apes in Jakarta

(Thanks Hautepop)

The Masked Monkeys of Indonesia

masked monkey

masked monkeys

Ed Wray was terrified the first time he encountered a masked monkey. Having lived and worked in Jakarta as a freelance photographer for years, he was accustomed to seeing the animals, cruelly leashed by chains, jumping through hoops or riding trikes on the sidewalks. But for Wray, the mask was a terrifying twist.

“When I first saw a monkey with a rubber baby doll’s head stuck over its head as a mask, it immediately struck me as horrifying and beyond weird.” Wray said. “Something about the combination of the doll head – which I think is scary looking to begin with – and a long tail just struck a chord in me.”

Time: The Masked Monkeys of Indonesia

(Thanks Bill!)

What Afghanistan Looked Like in the 50s and 60s

afghanistan

Amazing photo essay from Foreign Policy. A real eye opener.

Foreign Policy: Once Upon a Time in Afghanistan…

(via Dangerous Minds)

Characters from Black Hole made real

Blackhole characters made real

Blackhole made real

Characters from Black Hole, by fellow Evergreen alum Charles Burns, brought to life.

The Operators: Blackhole

Elena Dorfman – Still Lovers

still lovers Elena Dorfman

Elena Dorfman: Still Lovers

(via Notes From Somewhere Bizarre)

See also: Documentary about men and their RealDolls

Strange photographs of the surface of Mars

photograph of mars surface that looks like it has trees on it

This image looks remarkably like groves of trees growing among Martian dunes. But, the trees are an optical illusion. They are actually dark streaks of sediment on the downwind side of the dunes. They were created by escaping gas from the evaporating carbon dioxide ice below. The bottom of the ice melts into vapor and moves toward holes in the ice, carrying dark sediment along with it that is then deposited when the gas escapes.

photograph from the surface of Mars

Wired Science: Strange Places on Mars: What Do You Want to See Next?

Photographs of William S. Burroughs’ Stuff

william burroughs stuff

Photographer Peter Ross has been allowed to photograph William Burroughs’s stuff from a New York apartment he once lived in.

William Burroughs lived for many years in the former locker room of an 1880s YMCA, on the Bowery in New York City. The almost windowless space was known as The Bunker. When he died in 1997, his friend and mine, John Giorno, kept the apartment intact, with many of Burroughs’s possessions sitting as they were. Part of the space is now used for Buddhist teachings, and the apartment is a wonderful mix of Buddhist wall hangings and pillows and carpets and Burroughs’ personal furniture and collections.

The Morning News: William Burroughs’s Stuff

(via Kottke)

The surprising thing is that this place exists. He lived out his final days in Lawrence, KS. Did he also keep an apartment in NYC?

Update: A few more pics here (via Metafilter)

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